John Hayes: "I am the personification of Blue Collar Conservatism"

Energy minister John Hayes MP has given an interview to Paul Waugh and Sam Macrory of the House Magazine. You can read the full interview here but it contains a classic Hayes line or two.

Asked about the privilege of certain Tories he responds:

“I appreciate that not everyone starts with the advantage of a working
class background and so I try to be benevolent towards those that
don’t.”

And why does he think a working class background is so advantageous? Here he goes...

"I am the personification of Blue Collar Conservatism. My childhood was idyllic because it was the perfect childhood…in a secure, loving home, a secure, loving working class home. I grew up on a council estate in south east London, a council maisonette, with my parents. I adored my father, I loved my mother. I had all that I desired. They made me feel like the most special boy in the world. It was a golden age. “I’m very proud of my working class roots and I’m very proud of working class culture. I’m a trade union member, my father was a shop steward, my grandfather was chairman of his branch. My friends in the TUC tell me I romanticise the working class too much. But I have a romantic view of working class culture. I loved that world."